Well, even though I was only there for a few hours, I thought it was worth putting together a photo montage of Open Fields 2007 for the blogging public who weren’t able to be there for themselves. I had to work a 12-hour shift from 7p-7a on Saturday night of the weekend, so my drive-by was just enough to get a feel for the goings on. With bags for picking chile peppers in hand, I set off with my camera to chronicle the day’s event and get some peppers for the kitchen cooking adventures in the process.

(Be advised: long post with lots of pictures!)

Thought of as “Woodstock for chileheads,” this event had a little something for the outdoorsman at heart. Here’s a view down the main strip of the vent and you can see how the tents and cars lined up for everyone to set up shop to cook, camp, shmooze, and just generally hang out. The stretch of tents and cars continued off behind me in the above picture and even off to the side of this area, so there was a decent amount of people who turned out to this secret venue in the hinterlands of Indiana.

For one thing, there was certainly no shortage of food to be had. Whether it was stuff for general consumption or stuff made for the “Fresh from the fields” contest, there was a lot of cookin’ going on. Above you can see the “one-eyed monsters” of red jalapenos stuffed with pimiento-filled olives. Not being a fan of olives, I didn’t try them…but they at least looked good.

One enterprising pair of chileheads who came with their trailer happened to be Louisiana natives, complete with the LSU-Tulane game blasting out for the sports aficionados to enjoy. I happened by as the deep-fried spicy gator was coming out of the oil and was fortunate enough to get a taste. Most gator tends to get a little chewy if it’s overly fried, but this was tender, moist, and very good.

There was no shortage of kitsch or sense of humor at Open Fields as well. You could set up your own chilehead domain, complete with stuffed redneck and remote-control farting power. Now that’s good eating, folks. After seeing this, I think I was almost ready to head out to the fields to pick a few peppers. A few pounds, that is.

On the way out, I espied the judging tent. Here was piled up the vast amount of chile pepper-themed products that was due to be judged that day. The amateur ones, while not always packaged most eloquently, definitely had the better variety of stuff. From salsa to hot sauce to spicy fudge & caramel to spice blends, you couldn’t go too wrong with people’s homemade stuff. Made me want to be a judge for the contest right then and there.

On the other side of the table was the so-called professional side featuring a lot of the products we all know, love, and enjoy. This pile got a lot bigger once CaJohn arrived with his stuff, so there was a mighty job to be had just to get through the judging of these products alone.

Jim C., Nick, and Chef Kam were the main judges in the tasting contest, which seem to go on forever. I didn’t envy them trying all those hot products on a steamy day, but they seemed to enjoy their work. Not pictured is the mammoth pile of empty tasting cups that began to pile up as the judging wore on. I’m looking forward to seeing the contest winner list when it’s available.

Finally…off to the fields! One thing for sure, and Jim would admit this, is that the pepper yield from the plants this year was pretty disappointing. With a scarcity of rain and a bizarre sorta growing season, the vast majority of peppers hanging on the plants were completely unripe. In the chinense section of plants, there were some ripe ones to be had and I filled a small plastic grocery bag with red habaneros that will ultimately be made into a hot sauce here. These above were just a few of the ripe ones I saw.

Of the peppers you could really work with when they’re still green, there was a great amount of the milder New Mexican peppers that were there in large amounts. If you could avoid the ones with blossom end-rot (sadly, many of them were afflicted), you could find ones like these seen above for Cubanelle, Spanish Spice, Sandias, and Anaheims. I even found a few ones that had ripened all the way to red, and I ate them right off the plant. Very sweet with a hint of heat, it was like eating an apple right off the tree.

Then there was the oddball peppers of which I was totally unfamiliar, like the Yatsufusa seen above. Mostly unripe, there were some red ones that were pick-able which I plundered to see how I could use them. They tasted a lot like a cross between a Thai pepper and a cayenne. Mostly seeds, but they had a decent taste for a smaller pepper.

Just to be able to try so many kinds of peppers right off the plant was actually pretty cool, with one caveat. When it’s green and you’re unsure of what kind of pepper it is, assume it’s hot. I got “burned” a couple of times finding out that I had taken a big bite of a pepper that I thought was mild…and turned out to be a scotch bonnet or other chinense pepper. I shoulda carried more water around with me.

Despite the shortness of the trip, I’m so glad I went to Open Fields this year. Jim says the upcoming Interstate development will force the event to relocate or cease to be in a few years, so I’m glad I could see it now and enjoy it. Looking forward to next year and hopefully being able to come out for a majority of the weekend. Thanks, Jim!!

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